A behind the scenes look at film and television Prop making peppered with everything else creative we do!

When I lent my services to a collegue who was working on a film about 12 years ago, I was introduced to the world of cnc. I remember watching this huge machining centre milling out a slab of mdf and turning it into a fantastic set of gears. I knew that it would have taken me hours to achieve the same thing with traditional power tools. I decided then that I would invest in a cnc router for my own business Oxenham Design. At that time I could turn on a computer, but even to check email seemed like a crazy set of operations. I persevered and learned every piece of relevant software I could get my hands on. I am now fortunate enough to be using Vectric's ASPIREsoftware, and Techno cnc routers, which has helped us to create some amazing projects, both in part, or in full. I thought that this blog would be a great place to share "behind the scenes" adventures with the software, materials and equipment we use, as well as the projects we build.

Monday, 10 June 2013

Trivia Hiking!

Our current build is a table top game for one of the large brewery companies here in Canada.
Basically they wanted a cool looking system that would have people answering trivia questions.

This is a VERY basic massing model, and the real version will be quite a bit more detailed.
The concept is that a person would answer questions, and upon getting the answer correct, the host would press a button, making a little hiker man ascend to the first checkpoint. This process continues until he reaches his destination cabin at the top of the hill. Once inside the cabin, he'll track through the mountain, unseen, until he pops out the base camp cabin at the bottom of the hill, starting the game over. Each checkpoint will have a light that comes on when he gets there. The electronics are dead simple, so there will be very little to go wrong, as it travels around the country. It will also be encased in acrylic, to avoid the temptation to grab and touch elements on the hill.

We have decided to drive the hiker with a #25 roller chain, locked into a track, under the base.

I wasn't able to get any in-stock chain, but the bearing company I ordered it from was able to provide the chain and sprocket specs for me. I turned this into a 1 to 1 scale drawing so I could figure out exactly what the length and distance for the track needs to be.

Using the sprocket drawing I created, I was able to get a lock on how the track would travel around the game base. Because the chain can only flex in one direction, it's critical that the track up the mountain be as planer as possible. We'll landscape around this fact, making the base a little more interesting than in the massing model. We're running the whole thing off of a low voltage 12v system, so it will also be very safe!

This is going to be a little design intensive for the next little bit, but it should be a lot of fun, times 2 games, equals even more fun!
8)
JWO

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About Me

Jamie is the owner of Oxenham Design, a full service props and miniatures company. Jamie designs/ builds for the film, television and advertising industry, as well as creates highly creative 'over the top' dimensional signage.
Running the company for over 10 years with his wife and partner Jody, they are fortunate to work on exciting and creative projects.
For more information you can find Jamie on Facebook, visit the website www.oxenhamdesign.com or follow his blog.